Читать книгу Drago #6: And the City Burned - Art Spinella - Страница 3

I know quite a few locals. They’re an independent lot.

While researching the history of the 1936 Bandon fire, I’d frequently ask myself if today’s residents would respond to such a massive threat with the same selfless acts. Would they go out of their way to help neighbors or strangers as much as our residents did in 1936?

Family came first, of course, but there are numerous accounts of “family” meaning anyone within the figurative arm’s reach: Sharing resources from food to clothing, allowing acquaintances to live in a home not destroyed by the fire, coming to the rescue of people – strangers – in danger.

And what about the kids?

There are also numerous accounts of youngsters aged 9 and 10 who took charge when there were no adults to direct their actions. Country kids raised to be self sufficient, if necessary.

Teens who went into crisis-management mode and protected the homestead because parents were working or tending to other business away from the farm or ranch.

Businesspeople who turned their fortune into part of the relief effort, providing shelter and food to the homeless.

One of the amazing pre-FEMA historical points was the immediate assistance from both the State of Oregon – the Governor directed relief efforts from his desk for the duration of the fire and its aftermath – and the Federal Government including orders from Franklin D. Roosevelt to government agencies to amass its resources to help rebuild Bandon.

Chambers of Commerce around the state provided tons of equipment and store stock to burned-out Bandon businesses so they could once again be part of the local economy.

Lumber mills, especially the Moore Mill in Bandon, made sure the sudden increase in demand for wood products didn’t turn into gouging, instead either offering discounted prices or pre-fire prices to residents and agencies attempting to rebuild the town.

Would that happen today?

As I said, I know many Bandon residents and have little doubt they would act in the same selfless manner if the time ever came to do so. While we still have heated discussions at the coffee shop or write scathing letters to the editor or plaster our cars with different political party bumper stickers or quibble over being “Bandonites” or “Bandonians,” when push comes to shove, We Are Bandon.

ABOUT THIS BOOK: Most of those portions headed “1936” are from real accounts of the Bandon fire from the book “Bandon Burns!” I’ve rewritten some of the first-hand reports for style. But the book itself is a wonderful insight into the ’36 fire on a human level. “Bandon Burns!” was compiled by Jim Proehl and Carol Acklin based on Bandon Historical Society files. Copies are available from the Historical Society (see websites at the back of this novel).

I’ve clearly taken some literary license in this, the sixth Drago mystery. Like Cabot Cove (Murder She Wrote), not a lot of mayhem really happens in Bandon.

But it could.

ABOUT MAINE: And for those of you who took umbrage at Nick’s comment “No one important came from Maine” in Drago #5 and sent long lists of high profile people from that state, I have but one thing to say: Don’t blame me! It was Nick who said it. Complain to him. I love Maine.

-- Art Spinella